Technology
PUBLISHED
6
A new high-speed train line from Las Vegas to Southern California was announced recently, marking the first bullet train in the US to begin development. The track will run 352 kilometers (218 miles) along Interstate 15, establishing an important connection between the two regions.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.“The High-Speed Rail Labor Coalition is proud to be in partnership with Brightline West in this historic project. Americans want high-speed rail, and Brightline West and the High-Speed Rail Labor Coalition will deliver. Brightline West will be the most elegant travel by rail experience you can have in America, and it will be the catalyst for America’s renaissance of travel by high-speed rail. The High-Speed Rail Labor Coalition is ready to bring this transformative transportation project to Americans. Let’s get to work,” shared the High-Speed Rail Labor Coalition in a statement.
At an astonishing cost of around $10 billion, the project will not come cheap, but it does finally answer many American’s cries for a better rail network. The company claim that the investment will create nearly 35,000 new jobs, which will involve a number of skilled workers from 13 different unions.
“Our nation’s first high-speed rail system will be operated and maintained by union labor, a statement of the strength of the American workforce,” said Mike Reininger, CEO of Brightline Holdings.
“As the most shovel-ready high-speed rail project in the United States, we are one step closer to leveling the playing field against transit and infrastructure projects around the world, and we are proud to be using America's most skilled workers to get there."
The US currently continues to place more emphasis on cars and trucks for transportation, with the most popular vehicles sold last year being the enormous Ford F-Series. As a result, larger and more petrol-hungry vehicles continue to produce huge emissions, despite large gains in the electric vehicle sector.
Brightline West, the company behind the high-speed rail system, hope to change that with their green trains. Fully-electric and capable of speeds of up to 321 kilometers per hour (200 miles per hour), the train would produce vastly lower emissions than the number of cars moving between the two locations constantly – the company claims it will reduce car numbers by 3 million and save 400,000 tons of CO2 each year. Using the new train, a four-hour car journey may be cut down to around one hour.
The project is expected to start this year and finish by 2027.
